GOP "Once Marched in Lockstep" with Bush, Now Revolting

Sheryl Gay Stolberg finds Stepford Republicans and a power-hungry president: "...for a president who once had almost absolute control over his own party and a proclivity to employ his power expansively if not audaciously, the last week was a reminder of how much things have changed. Republicans who came to office brimming with optimism just a few short years ago now sound as if they fear a long slog ahead."

Published: 7/2/2007 1:30 PM ET

By Clay Waters

Reporter Sheryl Gay Stolberg profiled the parlous political state of the allegedly lame duck President Bush in Saturday's "For President Bush, a Reversal of Fortune on His Political Capital."

But first, Stolberg provided more misleading on a U.S. anti-terrorist surveillance program: "After a string of Republican defections this week - on Iraq, immigration and domestic eavesdropping - President Bush enters the final 18 months of his presidency in danger of losing control over a party that once marched in lockstep with him."

As Times Watch has said before and will no doubt say again: The National Security Agency's spy program monitors international communications from suspected terrorists in America, not domestic. It's an important distinction, one the Times invariably fails to note, perhaps in order to make the program sound more like an invasion of privacy than it is.

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